December 6-7: What will it be like in heaven?

Question: What will it be like in heaven?

What do we think of when we hear "heaven"?

When I was young, I had all the usual pictures come to my mind - but I also freaked out a little at the thought of "forever". We know, though, that heaven won't be scary - it will be wonderful. Our minds are small...God is big. So, there are things we can't even imagine.

Four things we know about heaven:

A. God will be there - the best thing.

1 John 1:5-7 says when we walk in the light we have "fellowship" with God.

"Fellowship" is when we are with someone and enjoying their company - for example, your mom or dad at the park, or an amusement park, playing with you, just having a good time, not expecting something of you or telling you what to do. Fellowship is great time together, each person enjoying the other person.

Q: Could a person who confessed their sins late in their life still go to heaven and experience God?

A: Yes - but they will have missed the fellowship they could have had with God all their life. What a waste!

In heaven, we will not have our sin nature with us - it will be the God life 100%.

B. Everything there will be for our good - because God loves us

Q: If God loves me, does that mean he'll give me anything I want?

A: No. There's a difference (sometimes) between what I want and what's good for me.

So...will heaven be non-stop roller coaster rides and candy and as much pizza as we want? Probably not. God knows, though, what's good for us. That is what he will provide.

And some things we request aren't good or bad for us, but they're not what we need. (Example: a new Wii, $500 cash, etc.) God will provide what we need; not always what we want.

C. We will be totally satisfied.

Rev. 21:3-4 says there will be no more pain or sorrow or suffering - we will want nothing and need nothing, because we will have all that we need.

"Forever" is like being in a place where you don't want to leave - things are perfect, you don't want the moment to end.

D. We will be changed.

Q: Seriously, how will I like heaven if it's not endless video games and ice cream?

A: You will be changed, you will be different when you get to heaven.

Anyone who has lived through changes knows they usually aren't something we look forward to - and then when they happen, it turns out OK.

1 Corinthians 15:51-52 says at the time of the trumpet sound, we will all be taken up and we will be changed in an instant. What are some of these changes?

1. We'll have no body, or at least a different body (1 Cor. 15 tells us all about that).
   
2. Some of heaven we just can't understand until we're their and then it will be - oh, of course, I get it now! Like a frog explaining to a tadpole what it'll be like to have legs and jump on land.
   
3. Our attitude will totally change. We will be ok being in a place that isn't all about giving us exactly what we want. We will be happy letting God be the center of attention. Ex: my mom being happy to sit and watch us at amusement parks & ski places; Jason's wife agreeing to go to the Madagascar movie because it's what her boys wanted to do.

** This happens as we "grow up" as Christians - we learn to "live beyond ourselves" - to have experiences where we put our needs second, and we let someone else have our time, our attention, our money, our help - and we discover IT'S ALL OK!

Examples:

Missionary from our church who lives among the poor in South Africa

Missionary family that works among the Indian tribes in Peru

When you give away money you wanted to spend on yourself

When you wait for someone who's in front of you who moves more slowly, instead of barging ahead of them

When you are deliberately nice to someone you don't want to be nice to

When you let someone go in front of you in a  line

When there are 2 sodas left, with one flavor you want and one you don't - and you let your friend have the flavor you wanted, and you take the other

When you fast (go without eating for some meals)

When you do something extra at home without being asked - more than you are required to do for your chores

...and you discover it's ok!

Ask yourself: What am I willing to try to live beyond myself?

November 29-30 - Why do people sin?

Question: Why do people sin?

What does James 1:15-17 tell us about sin?
A. It tells us God does not sin and is not tempted, nor does he tempt
B. It tells us that we have evil desires living inside of us
C. It tells us that temptation plays on those desires until sin begins
D. It tells us that when sin is fully grown, it leads to death

So, in order:
1. We have sin living in us
2. We are tempted
3. We think about sinning
4. We follow through on sin
5. Because we sin, it leads to death

The sinful nature in us is like a huge appetite: "FEED ME!"

In answer to your questions:
Why did God make sin? God did not make sin! He doesn't cause it either!

Who created sin? Did it just come to be when Eve ate the fruit? Sin wasn't really created. It happened when people made wrong choices.

Why did God put temptations in this world? God doesn't tempt anyone. Temptations play on the evil desires that are in us (the sinful nature).

Who causes people to sin? Again, they come from the desires of our sin nature. We are responsible for our own sin.

Does God ever sin? No!

Are babies born with sin in their life?

Ex: four figures.
The first is INNOCENT - it has never sinned. The Bible tells us Adam & Eve were this way when created.
The second is FALLEN - no longer innocent, because it has sinned. The Bible tells us the human race is fallen.
The third is FORGIVEN.
The fourth is GLORIFIED. This is a person living in heaven. All sin is gone and God has given them "God life" forever and ever.

Which one...
deserves heaven? The innocent, if any - it has not sinned. But none of the others deserves God.
is sinful? The Fallen, and the Forgiven (yes, forgiven people still sin!) By definition, an Innocent person has never sinned, and a Glorified person cannot have sin and be in the presence of God
is saved? The Innocent (although no one today is innocent), the Forgiven, and the Glorified. But, the Forgiven one isn't perhaps "yet" saved, in the sense that the Glorified one is.

The journey moves in only one direction - from Fallen to Forgiven to Glorified - you cannot travel backwards! (and that's good news!)

Romans 5:12 - Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned...
So which figure represents how we are when we're born?

Views vary:
1. Some say we are born innocent and choose to sin; we might, or we might not. It is all a choice.
2. Some say we are born innocent but for sure we will sin; sin is just too strong.
3. Some say we are born already guilty of sin.

In the case of babies, they are either innocent, or sinful but not accountable.

The good news is - sinners can escape punishment! God shows "mercy" to people when he puts "the God life" in them although they are fallen.

November 22-23: Guest Speaker - Tom Wiest

Tom Wiest, from Pioneers, spoke about his family's work among indigenous people in Peru.

November 15-16: What's the deal with Satan?

Question: What's the deal with Satan?

Things the Bible tells us about angels and Satan:
Angels are sent to minister to those who believe (Heb. 1:14)
God created angels - they are not gods (Col. 1:16)
When angels sinned, some were sent to hell (demons) (2 Peter 2:4)
We are not to worship angels (Rev. 22:8-9)
Satan is also called "the ruler of the kingdom of the air" (Eph. 2:2)
He is also called "prince of this world" (John 12:31)
And also called "liar and the Father of all lies" (John 8:44)
He entered Judas and tempted him to betray Jesus (Luke 22:3)
He fell from heaven after his rebellion (Luke 10:18)
There is an eternal fire prepared for him (Matthew 25:41)
He tempted Jesus in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11)
He has been "sinning from the beginning" (1 John 3:8)
He prowls around us like a lion, waiting to devour (1 Peter 5:8)
If we resist him, he will flee (James 4:7)

1. Satan gets people to fear him
Ex: The Wizard of Oz - got people to fear him by pretending and showing himself to be more powerful than he really was

In the same way, Satan flexes his muscles, but doesn't really have all the power he pretends to have. People who worship Satan over God believe he is all-powerful, when he isn't.

2. Bible depicts him as a lion, a dragon, our enemy, the accuser - so why is he so angry?

Satan was created, an angel, who led a rebellion in heaven (see Rev. 12:1-12). Wanting to be on the level of God, and not achieving it, he was cast down to earth, where he wanders.

He tries to lead people down the wrong path by making the path to death look like the path to life!

3. Satan's goals

• Keep people from knowing that forgiveness of sins is possible
• To ruin the lives of people who do believe, by making them think "God could never love me" (he accuses us before God - and he's right! But, the death of Jesus covers any sin, and our salvation will not be undone.)
  

4. How he attacks
Satan looks for our weak points and tempts us there. Once he's "inside", it leads us to other sins.

Ex: Someone who thinks they must be perfect may be led to cheat, and then to lie to cover up the cheating, etc. Or, someone who gets angry easily with others may be led to hate others, and then to gossip about them, and so on.

Knowing that Satan works in this way, the job for us is to strengthen our outer defenses...don't let Satan hit you at your weak spot. Where is your weak spot that you need to defend against? James 4:7 says if we resist the devil he will flee from us.

5. Other questions about Satan -
Who created hell? It's a place reserved for Satan and his angels
Does God love the devil? The devil was created by God. For sure, as a created being, he was once loved. But the point is that the devil will never repent. He will not go to heaven. He already had eternal life with God and rejected that. Every human gets another chance; the devil has forever blown his.
Why can't God destroy Satan and sin? He is! When Jesus came out of the grave, that broke Satan's power - people no longer had to die. Life is available to everyone who comes to Jesus. Satan has power - but it's not the kind of power God has. In Genesis 3:15 it says the serpent will strike the heel of "the woman's offspring"...Jesus; but Jesus will crush his head. So, we are living in "the beginning of the end" of evil.

Does Satan have power? Yes, but only in the way the Wizard of Oz did. Much of his "power" rests on suspicions we hold and fears that aren't realistic.

November 8-9: Why does God let bad things happen to us?

Question: Why does God let bad things happen to us?

Thanks for all the questions submitted so far...keep them coming...if your question isn't answered right away, know that we are getting to it. Some questions have to be answered first - questions about God creating the world, how sin came in - before we can answer other questions, like do animals go to heaven.

1. "Bad things" entered the world when Adam & Eve "fell" ("The Fall" = the first sin, the first act of disobedience to God)
Q: "What 'bad stuff' came into the world after the Fall?"

• Adam & Eve could no longer live in the Garden of Eden (Q: Do we know where it was? No, not exactly. Clues from the name of the river, probably Iraq, but it wasn't found.)
  
• Adam would have to work the ground and there would be thorns and thistles
  
• Eve would have to submit to her husband rather than be his equal
  
• Eve would experience pain in giving birth
  
• The serpent (Satan) would be cursed (but, the same verse talks about Jesus coming to win!)
  
• People would die
  

As we talked about last week, God could not have created us to have choices unless there was also the choice to disobey. Love for him that is not chosen wouldn't mean anything.

Remember Teacher Mr. X and Teacher Mr. Y? In Teacher Mr. X's world, there was no misbehavior, but there were also no choices. In Teacher Mr. Y's class, wrong things probably would happen.

Bonus: Where is Jesus mentioned in the passage? Verse 15 - her offspring will crush his (Satan's) head

2. Because there is sin, we have suffering

• Caused by ourselves - ex: we get grounded, we fail tests, we get yelled at, we lose friends
• Caused by others - ex: all the evil things kids do to each other

Ex: Logan's white jeans at dusty summer camp! It didn't matter if he was trying to stay clean or get dirty, he was going to get dirty!

3. What we call evil isn't always necessarily evil
If I want something good to happen, and it doesn't happen, is that a bad thing?
Ex: It rains on my birthday, so I can't have the party in the park. Evil? No - inconvenient & bad, yes - for me.

Ex: I get grounded for lying to my parents. Evil? No. A bad thing? Yes, for me.

Ex: I (Mark) swam out too far and almost drowned. Very scary. Was it an evil thing? No, but uncomfortable and horrible.

Part of "growing up" is being able to look at things the way someone else sees them - including God. When we can see ALL there is so see of something, we understand it better. Ex: 3-D glasses.

4. Evil is being overcome.
When Jesus came out of the grave, the process of evil being defeated began (like when Aslan rose in Narnia - and started to undo all the evil). More on that next week.

5. Sometimes good can come from evil - God works through things to make us better, stronger, and to change us.
Read Romans 8:28-32. Does verse 28 mean:
A. Only good things will happen to people who love God
B. God causes bad things to happen because they're good for us
C. Everything that happens to us turns out good in the end
D. No matter what happens, God is always working to make us like his son, Jesus

D is the best choice - as verse 31 says, "If God is on our side, who can be against us?" Nothing can happen that will derail God's good plan for us.

Ex: I'm not glad that the drowning incident almost happened, but I learned valuable lessons from it.
What have you been through that's been hard, but your own good has come from it?

Into small groups (each group take one passage):
John 9:1 - Jesus heals a man born blind
Philippians 1:7-14 - Paul in chains for the gospel
1 Peter 1:5-7
2 Corinthians 1:8-11
Who was suffering in this passage?
What was the suffering?
What reason was given for why the person suffered?
Why is that "good"?

November 1-2: Why did God let Adam & Eve sin?

Question: If God knew that Adam & Eve were going to sin, why did he let them sin?

How do we answer a question like this?
1. Whenever answering questions about God, we use the Bible...

We can't just "make things up" from whatever seems right. If we do, we will be constantly changing our minds - like the song "Tossed to and Fro"

The Bible isn't arranged by topic - unfortunately. We can't look up things like "How God thinks" or "What happened before the creation of the world"?

What we do see in the Bible is the things God has done.
We put as many of these together as we can
Ex: a jigsaw puzzle - the more you "fill in" the more you can see what the whole picture is about

2. ...and we use our minds.

"Based on what I know about God, what is the answer here?"

Q: Does God have to "make sense" - can I look at what God did in the Bible and know what he will do in the future?
A: Yes and no. If God wasn't predictable, we would have a hard time trusting him. But God can cause miracles, he can do the unexpected; he also cannot do certain things: lie, change, un-create himself, make a square circle, etc.

But, we generally use what we know God has done (the Bible) as a clue for what he will do in the future.

3. We should check with more than one person on tough questions
To see if their answers match
Because having things explained in more than one way will help you understand better

If God knew that Adam & Eve were going to sin, why did he let them sin?
1. Did God know?
Like our example from a couple of weeks ago, God is like a man sitting in a tower watching the parade go by - he sees the beginning, middle and end.

Some people believe "God doesn't know the future"
Others believe "God could know but he chooses not to" - like climbing down off the tower

I (Mark) believe that yes, God does know the future (although it isn't the future to him). Eph. 1:4 and other places talk of God making decisions before the start of time.

2. If he knew, why did God let them do it?
...because sin makes the world worse, and causes death, why wouldn't God prevent that?

A: God lets people make choices. Not trees or mountains - they make no choices. And animals don't make moral choices - no knowledge of right & wrong.

God won't take away our freedom to make moral choices. In the end, this makes him look even better!

Ex: Two teachers, Mr. X and Mr. Y
Teacher Mr. X never let his students make any mistakes. He watched over their shoulders as they worked and made everyone stay on the same problem at the same time. This frustrated the faster workers. As soon as it looked like someone was going to mis-spell a word or add something wrong, Mr. X would raise his voice and say, “STOP!” so they’d catch their mistake.

Mr. X gave all his students the questions to every test ahead of time. That way, they could just memorize all the answers. And wouldn’t you know it? Mr. X’s students all got As.

On the first day of school, Mr. X had his students write “Get Well” cards and “Thank You” cards. You know who they were for? For him! So when he came down with the flu in January, he got 30 get well cards from his students. And at the end of the year, he mailed the thank you cards to himself, too.

Teacher Mr. Y did the best he could to teach his students, but in the end, he let them be themselves. He knew that some kids were better at math than others, so he didn’t expect everyone to do things perfectly. Mr. Y would give homework, and have students do it on their own. Then, when it was graded, he let students come to him during recess or after school and work to fix their mistakes.

Mr. Y’s kids didn’t always do great on tests. But, a fair number did. And there were a few students who started the year not really liking school all that much who raised their grades to all As by the end of the year.

When Mr. Y went in the hospital to have his appendix out, half of the kids in his class sent him Get Well cards on their own. And at the end of the year, 20 out of 30 kids gave him some kind of Thank You gift.

What was being a student like in Mr. X's classroom? In Mr. Y's classroom?
Who was more loved by his students? Mr. Y - his students wrote him cards even though they didn't have to
Which teacher is more like God? Mr. Y. God wants us to love him, but he gives us the choice.

So...when a human chooses to love God, it makes God look great, because there were so many other things that person could have chosen to love.

God took a chance by giving us freedom...we might not choose him. But, to take away our choice would make us like robots. Then we wouldn't really be choosing to love him.

Rocks, trees, mountains - make us say, "God must be pretty cool"
Animals - make us say, "God is very cool"
A person who has chosen to love God even though they didn't have to - makes us say, "God must be awesome!"

October 25-26: Why did God decide to create us?

Why did God create us?

In smaller groups, look for the answers to these questions in your assigned passage:
1. Why did God decide to create us?
2. What were we created for?
3. How did God create us?
Passages: Psalm 33:6-11, Ephesians 1:3-6, Acts 17:24-28

1. Not reasons God created us:
He was bored
He was lonely
He needed people to make him feel good by praising him

Acts 17:24-25 – The God who made the world and everything in it is Lord of the universe and does not live in temples made by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, for he himself has given us life and breath and everything else.

We say that God is self-sufficient – in need of nothing and not needing others

If God is self-sufficient, he doesn’t need people.
That doesn’t mean, though, that people have no value. Just the opposite – our value comes from the fact that God loved us enough to create us.

Ex: Two instances about my dad and me
My dad owned a vegetable garden and would often need my help in the summertime. I didn’t like going and looked for excuses to get out of it. They even sometimes paid us to be there.

My dad invited me on a 7-hour car trip across the state when I was in 7th grade, to accompany him to a convention he was attending. He didn’t need me along, but he wanted me there.

Which of these is more like the relationship between God & us?
The car trip across the state is. God doesn’t need us to get his work done. That would make us equals in a sense, and allow us to bargain with God. We also develop a wrong attitude toward God – that our service is all he wants. Instead, God delights in just being with us.

You are not loved by God because you are valuable – You are valuable because you are loved by God!

2. So – why did God decide to create us?
Because it was his will (his decision), and his nature (he’s just being himself)

Ex: a creative person – poet, playwrite, artist – they often just create things, regardless of whether anyone will see it, hear it, or give them money for it. It’s just “who they are”. They decide to make something, and they do it.

3. But, there’s a difference between what God creates & what man creates.
What God created came from nothing…whatever man created (bikes, computers, milkshakes even!) came from the raw parts that were already there.

So, we can still thank God for things that came from man’s imagination & hands.

4. Did God create actions?
Ex: running? No, but he gave us the equipment and ability to run.

This is important: how we use things, how we act – are the result of human decisions.

5. All created things are “good”, but can be used for right/wrong purposes
Gen. 1, 1 Tim. 4:4 say everything God created is “good”

So what about – fire? (Good for some purposes, bad for others) water? (good when you’re thirsty or dirty, harmful in floods and shipwrecks) spiders? (a nuisance, some people are scared of them; but, they serve a valuable purpose in nature) sharks? (same as spiders – bad when they attack people, good for the ocean’s ecosystem)

If God deserves thanks for the good, does he deserve blame for the bad? No – sometimes good things get used in bad ways…but this is the result of decisions


Next Week: Why does God allow these bad things to happen?

October 18-19: Who Created God? and Where did God come from?

The Big Idea: Unlike people, God had no creator, he has no beginning and he will have no end.

Who created God? No one did
Then, where did he come from? He has always existed

In groups, look at passages:

• Acts 17:24-25 and Acts 17:29
• Colossians 1:15-16
• Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:26-28
• Psalm 90:1-4
• John 1:1-3

and answer:
1. What does this tell us about the age of God?
2. What does this tell us about who created God?
3. What does this tell us about how God is different from humans?

1. Without something at the beginning, absolutely nothing real could exist.
If we take something made, and ask - "what made this?" and then continue back...there has to be something at the beginning. That "beginning thing" is God.

So >>> God is not created.

2. Because nothing made God, he was never born and doesn't get any older
We call that "infinite"...which is different from being "old"

Infinite is the biggest number, bigger than any other. You can always add 1 to any number to get a bigger number. But not infinity. Infinity + 1 is still infinity. So, it's not correct to say that God is old, he is just infinite.

So >>> God is eternal.

3. Because God is eternal and not created, he holds a special place above (and outside of) the universe.

Ex: think of a special event you've attended (Harvest Party, Christmas Party, birthday party). While you're having fun and not knowing what will come next, someone knows. Someone set it all up, is in charge schedule and safety, hosting, decorating...someone is the organizer.

In the same way >> God is the maker (the organizer, the host) of the world:

• Gets to choose when it starts and ends
• Things that surprise us are not surprises to him
• Just as you thank the host of the party when you leave, God - who had no beginning, nothing before him - deserves all our thanks

Ex: In China - skies are normally smoggy. But, after a good soaking rain, the air cleared off. It made me thankful...but for what? Thankful to whom? I realized this could be applied to anything good...great athletic performances at the Olympics, acts of kindness...instead of being thankful "for that", we can train ourselves to be thankful "to God" because he is the source & the beginning of all that exists.

Caution: sometimes we stop short of thankfulness to God by simply being thankful only that we have certain things. This is coveting - loving something in a selfish way. True thankfulness takes our love for whatever it is - a possession, another person, a favorite activity - and follows it back to its source, which is God.

October 11-12: Questions

This is the beginning of our "Ask Me Anything" series in which kids submit questions about God & life that we will answer in class.

Why is it helpful to my faith to ask questions?

1. It helps us understand and appreciate the world
Ex: My experience at a winter camp once. We arrived after dark and there were no street lights or yard lights - totally dark. I couldn't see my way to the bunks and I thought the camp was really lame. The next day, when the sun shone on it, I realized the full picture - what a great camp it was.

The more we know and can see things the way God sees them, the better our decisions will be.

"Wisdom" - comes from having more & better information.
God is perfectly wise - like a man sitting on a steeple or tower high above a parade.
Solomon knew to ask the Lord for wisdom - to make better decisions

Example of wisdom applied to a question:
"Is it ok for me to have a boyfriend or girlfriend?" God knows who you're going to marry one day, and it's almost always not the person you like when you're young! His better knowledge helps us make a decision.

"Can I be friends with someone who's different from me?" (different likes, disabled, etc.) Once you get to know someone and know their story, it's much easier to be their friend (yes, you can be friends with someone who's different!)

The bottom line: Sometimes a little more info helps us make a better decision

2. Understanding God helps us trust him better

Example: In the game, you guessed what items were in bags. If you knew what it was used for, that was a clue as to what it was. With God, we use "like" statements even though that never exactly describes what God is or what he does. We can never know exactly what God is like this side of heaven...1 Corinthians 13 says that now we see "through a glass darkly", or a poor reflection, but one day we will see God face to face.

Wrong beliefs about God cause us to act wrongly towards him
Example: "Candle wax" to eat - it was really caramel & taffy
When you expected it to be wax, you didn't want it; when you expected candy, you really wanted it. The Bible says God is good and every perfect gift comes from him, and he is not the maker of evil. If we don't know that, we might blame God for bad things or expect wrong things from him.

If you believe...
...that God only cares if you show up for church, but not how you live the rest of your life - you will be inconsistent - Jesus will never live out his life in you, and you will not grow.
...that God will not forgive anyone completely - you will then believe that no one can be sure of their salvation, and you will likely live your life nervous of God rather than joyfully and thankfully.
...that Satan is everywhere - you may believe that Satan has more power than he does, when in reality Satan can't be everywhere and Christ's victory over him is already assured.


One more thing...Does asking questions mean my faith is weak?
There is "simple" faith and "brainiac" faith - and either one is ok! Some people are satisfied with answers the first time they hear them. Others need to ask lots of questions to understand.

The point is not merely knowing the right answers, the point is whether you put what you believe into practice.

So, faith is like a chair - we're not really exercising faith until we sit in it and make our decisions because of it. God desires us to have confident faith (belief put into action), not a hesitant faith (no action from the belief).

Do you sit in your chair confidently, or hesitantly?